


Hooked on a Feeling

by iammisscullen



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Insecure Bucky Barnes, M/M, Minor Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, Pining Bucky Barnes, Romance, Secret Admirer, Slight Angst (IDK if it's considered as one), There's FLUFF but I'm also not sure, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, What else do you put on these tags?, no superpowers, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 14:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13572393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iammisscullen/pseuds/iammisscullen
Summary: An AU where Bucky finds this gorgeous boy sleeping in the oddest places across the university. And said boy is Tony Stark. Not that Bucky knows, all he knows is that he calls the boy: Sleeping Beauty. Because duh.





	Hooked on a Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So, my first WinterIron. Please be kind to me. And yes, I'm bad at summaries. Another yes, for unbeta-ed work.  
> Any remaining mistakes are mine.  
> Hope you enjoy it cos I like writing this. :)

people form constellations on stars,  
they predict future in the sky.  
but our fates weren’t written in the galaxy;  
they were drafted in laughters, smiles, pain and compromises.  
our love wasn’t destiny,  
it’s a constant choice;  
you choose to love me despite the bad,  
and i choose to be better for good.

 _\- every day is a new reading of our future_ || iammisscullen

 

~*~

Bucky wanted some peace and quiet. He’s trying to study Maths because apparently you still have to take Basic Algebra even when you’re a Lit Major.

And of course what better place to be synonyms with tranquility than the university library. Sure, the nerds on the first floor are above prerequisite library noise about _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_ , but he has a special table up in the second floor where most of the jocks used to do drugs. But ever since the Great Drug Bust of 2010, no one had been spotted on that far off table in the north part of the floor.

He’s kinda shock the mahogany table had not been taken out of its spot. But whatever. It’s useful to him now, since no one seems to go around that area like it’s some quarantine.

Bucky all has his Maths notes from Steve, who is suprisingly good at the subject even when his best friend is studying to be a Physical Therapist.

He is absolutely ready to study his Algebra and get the fucking subject over with. God, he hopes he can survive this semester.

And as he approach the spot, there happened to be a problem.

Across from him the infamous table is on its place. Only that, it’s not empty.

Lo and behold, the table nests another student. And said student seems to be asleep. Or is also as exhausted like Bucky with their overload schoolwork that the unknown person had decided to bang their head on the table and tragically killed themselves.

Also, maybe not. Because Bucky can jump to the worst and most dramatic conclusion.

Bucky walks to the table slowly, maybe this other student can share the space with him, despite all the books in current mayhem on the flat surface of the furniture.

Seriosuly, those are thick books. And a lot of them too, Bucky notes. Jesus! No wonder the stranger student head-banged himself.

But as Bucky finally gets closer, he can confirm his theory that the other person is asleep. This stranger is snoring quietly, even.

And when he’s near enough, Bucky realises that the student was gorgeous.

His left cheek is pillowed on his hand at table, making his whole face expose for viewing.Thick, long lashes – check. Pink, pouty lips – check. Handsome facial symmetry – double check.

Where has this beautiful person been for the past three years that Bucky was in this university?

Maybe he’s a freshman. But Bucky doubts it. What freshman would study this much? Usually most freshies are uncontrollable party freaks. Well, he can’t blame them. The newly found independence is intoxicating.

He pulls a chair across the sleeping beauty, makes sure he doesn’t create any noise to wake up the other bloke.

And being this near to the stranger – wow, he’s being stupidly creepy by the minute – he can see the darkening under the boy’s eyes. Literal sign that this guy hasn’t been sleeping well. And the books on the table seems to be the reason.

The stranger mumbles something. Bucky’s a little startle, thinking the other person had woken up. And it would be such an embarrassment for Bucky’s part to be caught staring like some weirdo on someone who is innocently sleeping.

He finds the mumbling cute. But also schools himself to get on with what he had came to do.

So, Bucky studies his Maths and lets the beautiful stranger sleep, and mumble quietly. And if he glimpses at the other more often than necessary, then no one has to know.

**

Tony wakes up with a jerk. A loud metal clangs as he unconsciously let go of the small fire extinguisher he didn’t know he was cuddling.

He’s laid on the old couch in the Engineering Room. And he’s not sure how he got there.

But all of that is forgotten at the smell of coffee. And yes, coffee indeed!

There’s a steaming cup of coffee sat on the nearby coffee table next to all of Tony’s engineering notes.

He didn’t hesitate since it’s fucking 5pm of a Friday, and he believes most of his idiot classmates are at some lowlife pub, drowning their last remaining brain cells.

So, this coffee is definitely not any of theirs, and is for him.

Maybe Rhodey or Pepper had stopped by and dropped this coffee. Or maybe not because as he grabs the hot cup – yes, it’s still hot and the heat it wonderful – there’s a post-it attached to it. and that’s positively not Rhodey or Pepper’s handwriting. Not even Natasha’s.

Who exactly is the coffee from?

One thing to find out.

On the post-it was the scribble: _Hope it’s still as hot as you when you wake up. :) P.S. The floor isn’t really fit for comfortable sleeping. Next time, use your bed. Or you could use mine. I won’t mind. ;)_

 _Okay_ , Tony thinks confusedly. He’s a genius. But none of the present matter makes sense to him. Should he be creeped out that some stranger carried him to this couch and left him coffee? Or be swooned that he has a somewhat flirty secret admirer?

He should probably tell Pepper. She’s smarter than him when it comes to people reading.

Because Tony’s an engineering genius, the whole university thinks so, even when they call him snobby or snarky. He’s suppose to change the world, his father insists or else he’ll be a complete disappointment to the Stark’s name – and really, he’s doing a majestic job at being a constant failure to his father, Howard.

But people in general are beyond his intellectual understanding. And this might  be another reason why he and his father had never see eye-to-eye.

**

There is at least twelve tasks on Bucky’s to-do list right now. One of them involves finishing _The Bluest Eyes_ by Toni Morrison and making a book review about it. The other long task involves a construction of an essay based on a classic literature of his liking, which will involve political and social parallelism of today’s era in a satyrical manner.

So, there’s a great chance he might just shoot himself in the head instead. He’s starting to hate everything that made him choose his major.

The weather’s sunny, it might be a good idea to finish reading his book in the quad. He needs something positive – like sunshine and blue skies – to at least motivate himself to get through this hell society calls: university.

The quad’s not really quiet. Most of the students had the same thing in mind as Bucky. The football team are even passing their pig skin around and shouting at each other.

Now, he needs to find a spot.

He roams his eyes around the nearby trees where the green, comfy grass carpets beneath them.

It must be fate – despite Bucky’s lack of belief in such things – because there _he_ is again. The same gorgeous boy from the library and engineering room. And like the past two instances, he’s once again asleep.

The smile is on Bucky’s lips before he was even conscious about it.

And as always, there are myriad of notebooks and books surrounding Bucky’s Sleeping Beauty. It’s cute.

Bucky gravitates towards the stranger that he still doesn’t know the name of. He calls him Sleeping Beauty, and Steve’s already teasing him for being such a sap, and how Aurora’s not the best Disney princess. And he agrees with his best friend. You shouldn’t trust people you met in the woods, and marry them just because they proclaimed they’re your true love.

True love. He wants to snort at the idea. It’s all fairytales.

Bucky makes an irrational decision to sit next to Mr. Sleeping Beauty. And maybe this could be his chance to finally know the stranger’s name.

Mr. Sleeping Beauty has to wake up eventually, right? Bucky could really use that opportunity to officially introduce himself and ask the gorgeous boy to a date.

Well, he has to know first if Sleeping Beauty is gay. But seriously? Lips like that should be illegal to be allowed only for girls.That is injustice right there.

If they judge him for sitting too close to the beautiful stranger, he can just tell them that there wasn’t enough space. The quad’s absolutely pack.

And as he sits himself next to the sleeping boy, he instantly smells the other bloke’s minty perfume. There’s a mixture of something rustic coming from him as well, like something metallic. Bucky likes it.

He leans on the tree like the unknown stranger. And if their shoulder brush for a second, no one has to know that Bucky’s heart skipped a beat.

He pulls out his book then, loving the feeling of sitting next to his crush.

Crush. He is definitely swoon and Steve will never let this die.

He’s halfway through his book when he yawns.

It’s such a beautiful day, and Bucky’s been up late last night, making his PowerPoint presentation for Public Speaking class.

His Sleeping Beauty mumbles something incoherent again, and the guy makes a short shudder. The next thing Bucky knows, the stranger’s head is on his shoulder.

He goes stiff. And his heart rate might be above normal beating right now.

In this position he can smell the grease and sandalwood from Sleeping Beauty’s hair. Grease? Why does the boy smell like grease? Doesn’t matter. Bucky likes it, reminds him of his Dad’s mechanic shop where he spent growing up.

The stranger snores softly next to him, clearly enjoying his sleep. Bucky wants him too. If the unfading dark shade under his eyes are indication that the other student still haven’t been sleeping better, then Bucky wants him to get as much rest as he can.

For a minute Bucky wants the rest of the world to disappear around them. He wants everyone to quiet down so Sleeping Beauty can sleep without disturbance. And at the same time he wants to hear every exhale and inhale by the boy beside him.

And he might be a huge sap like Steve had pointed out, because he feels calm next to this stranger. Or maybe Sleeping Beauty’s carelessness is starting to rub off on Bucky too.

Bucky who’s always cautious, often overthing, and mindful of people’s thoughts.

It’s not a bad trait to be like this handsome person, letting go and not giving a fuck, sleeping where he feels like it.

He yawns, feeling drowsy himself. And it doesn’t help that the body next to him is so warm, and his weight is comforting against Bucky, like some assurance that he’s not alone.

Another yawn and Bucky can no longer keep his eyes open.

The soft breathing from his companion lulls Bucky to the hands of slumber in a matter of seconds.

**

‘Tony?’

His eyes immediately flew open, and connects with Rhodey’s confuse and worried face.

‘Sugar pie.’ He gives the black man his most brilliant grin. The scowl doesn’t leave the other man’s face. ‘It’s not what you think,’ he reasons out, and unhinges himself from the fiber glass shed of the bus stop.

Rhodey only rolls his eyes and opens the passenger door of his black sedan. ‘Get in.’

Tony gathers his body motor coordination and tries not to trip on his own two legs towards the car.

‘It’s freezing cold outside,’ Rhodey chastises as turns the heater higher. ‘What were you thinking?’ He razes his eyes on Tony’s thin layers of clothing as he manuevers them off.

‘Were you worried about me, boobear?’ he coos teasingly at his helicopter-parent-of-a-best-friend.

The other man releases an exhausted sigh. He’s tired of rolling his eyes. ‘Damn it, Tones,’ he says in exasperation. ‘Of course, I’m worried about you.’ He wheels the car to the left. ‘You’re unconscious in a public area. Out in the open for some crazy person to assault. Or worse… get abducted.’

Tony knows he has a reputation. People recognise him anywhere he goes. He’s Tony fucking Stark, for crying out loud – son of billionaire Howard Stark.

‘Why didn’t you call for a car?’ Rhodey asks in that condescending manner that makes Tony feel like a child. Well, someone needs to be the adult in Tony’s life or else he’ll always get in trouble, or worse hurt himself with his own crazy antics.

‘I was catching the bus for a change,’ he lies. ‘Social expirement.’

The black man gives him a side glance that clearly states he doesn’t buy Tony’s bullshit excuse.

‘What did you do this time?’ Rhodey accuses, in the same voice he uses whenever Tony gets himself in trouble. And that is _often_.

‘I didn’t do anything.’ He knows he sounds defensive and that’s what a guilty person sounds like. ‘Just maybe caused a small fire at the Chemistry lab with Bruce, and fried Justin Hammer’s eyebrows.’

Rhodey hits the break too soon, and the car halts with a sudden jolt that jostles them both.

‘What?’ He’s turning in his seat to face Tony.

Full confrontation mode, Tony notes.

‘That was your chaos three days ago?’

Tony gives his best friend his most charming smile to appease the other man’s glare. ‘It was a science accident,’ he plactates.

Rhodey massages his temples at the upcoming headache.

‘And how is this related with you catching the bus?’ He’s too tired to make a full telling off of his best friend. He’s already exhausted from his lacrosse practise that afternoon.

‘My father found out because Justin’s parents sort of sued me for trying to kill their son.’ He snorts because if he really wanted Hammer dead, he could at least be a little creative on how to kill his obnoxious classmate. At the same time, he doesn’t like talking about his father or remembering how his old man is constantly disappointed with him. ‘And he cut me off for a month.’

‘And your savings?’ Rhodey asks softly. The pity is there and Tony hates it.

‘Frozen,’ he answers coldly, because his father can be such an arsehole. ‘So I might have to take the bus for the rest of the month because I’m poor now.’ He gives Rhodey a fake smile. But his best friend’s not buying it.

It’s a good thing he has a few money stored outside of banks, because he refuses to come pleading to his father to help him with his finances for the next month.

He’s not going to give Howard the opportunity to gloat his punishment. And to be honest, he’s not even sure if his father even care at all. The thought of Howards gloating is almost positive news since it means that he had given Tony some thought.

But Tony doubts it. His father doesn’t care about him. All Howard cares about is _his_ company. And he only values Tony at some point because Tony’s his successor. It’s all a matter of business, no familial love or whatsoever.

Rhodey clears his throat. ‘Nonetheless, I am not happy about you sleeping in public places.’

Tony’s smiles, happy to get a change of topic.

‘I don’t know, boobear,’ he says. ‘I like sleeping now.’

‘No, you don’t.’

He smiles again, because that’s true. He’s always up all night. No sleep for thirty-six hours working on projects, and tinkering robots or whatever schemantics that comes into his mind. He loves creating things.

‘Seriously, Tones, you need to sleep more.’ Rhodey opens his car door. ‘And definitely not in public.’ He gets out of the vehicle and Tony copies.

Tony chuckles at that, remembering five days ago he woke up in the quad with his head pillowed on some handsome boy’s shoulder. If only Bruce didn’t collect him for class, he would have stayed in that stranger’s shoulder forever and announce that he lives there now.

He doesn’t have a type. Or maybe he does: beautiful black haired man, with brooding looks, reading pretentious books. Not to mention those sinful lips, and the hint of stubble around his jaw. That stranger looked like a rebel, or some badass who owns a motorbike and sports a tattoo or three.

And yes, he might have a crush. Well, if you have eyes, you’ll definitely want to card your fingers through Pretty Boy’s shoulder-level hair. It just warrants touching.

The cold breeze outside is what pulls Tony back into reality. Fuck! It really is freezing. He pulls his coat tighter and snakes his scarf snugly on his neck.

Wait. Scarf? He doesn’t have a scarf.

But he is clearly wearing one now.

He eyes the thick black material and tries to recall its origin. Nope. It’s absolutely not his.

Why is it wrapped around him?

‘Tony?’ Rhodey calls for him.

His eyes might be wide with shock or fear. He’s not sure which of the two. But Rhodey must know because friend’s lips are set in a grim line.

‘I may have a stalker,’ he admits in horror.

**

Bucky’s not jealous. No, he’s happy – relieve that Mr. Sleeping Beauty – his name is Tony, Bucky heard, was taken care.

He’s not going to focus on the fact that Tony called this other guy – with glossy, black car – ‘sugar pie.’ Maybe they’re just friends.

What sort of friends call each other such endearments? Him and Steve calls each other ‘punk’ or ‘jerk.’ But never something as sweet and cheesy as ‘sugar pie.’

Sometimes maybe, when they’re annoying each other or teasing, they’ll call the other ‘doll.’ But _never_ sugar pie or moon cake or whatever dessert concoction. Not that it’s weird, but those sort of nicknames are reserve for people you have special affections for, right? Like when Steve calls Natasha: sweetheart; or when she calls Steve: babe. That’s what people who are dating calls each other. Not people who are friends.

The only conclusion is that Tony’s dating the black guy in the car. Why did Bucky even think that Tony’s available? Of course, faces like that are off the market.

And he’s even stupid enough to give Tony his scarf as some sort of romantic gesture. Now that chapter isn’t going to happen.

He sighs. Not regretting giving Tony his black scarf because it literally stopped the other boy from shivering in that bus stop.

God! He should have just woken Tony and offered his scarf like a normal person, and find out if Tony was really dating someone or not. Then they could have had their first conversation because Bucky’s curious as what Tony likes to do in his free time other than sleeping on the oddest places.

It could have been so easy.

Not _that_ easy perhaps. But it could have been something. Anything other than Bucky pining away, and being tortured by all the _What ifs_ about Tony.

‘You okay, Buck?’ Steve asks in greeting, occupying the chair across Bucky in the cafeteria table.

Bucky runs a hand across his tired face. He can’t get Tony out of his head, and his schoolwork is killing him. At this point, he’s not sure which agony will get him first: his heart’s or his brain’s.

‘Don’t wanna talk about it,’ he states and takes a sip of his orange juice.

‘Guess you’ve not found your _paramour_ yet?’ Steve teases. Because Steve’s actually a jerk who likes to make fun of Bucky when he’s pining and tormented by his crush – who may or may not be single.

He throws a crumpled paper at his best friend..

‘I’m just saying, you should have looked for him back at the Engineering Building,’ Steve offers, opening his notes. ‘You did say he smelled like grease.’

‘ _With_ grease,’ he corrects. ‘Not like grease, Stevie. That’s mean.’ He glares at the man.

‘Okay, okay.’ Steve raises both hands in the air in amendment. ‘Still… you should have.’

‘Whatever.’ He rolls his eyes. ‘When is Nat getting here anyway?’

‘In a few,’ Steve answers as he checks his watch. ‘She’s got French now.’

‘French?’

‘Yeah.’ The blonde shrugs. ‘She’s trying to learn another language.’

Bucky smiles in admiration because Natasha already knows English, Russian (her native language), and Spanish. And now she’s adding a new language to her achievements. Her abilities seemed limitless, if you ask Bucky.

‘She’s going to whip your arse, Rogers.’ He grins impishly. ‘She’s too good for you.’

It’s Steve who throws the crumpled paper back at Bucky.

‘As if I don’t know that already,’ Steve agrees with that same dumbfounded smile he gets whenever he talks about his red hair girlfriend, who he’s always saying he’s lucky to have in his life.

And Bucky wants that. Longs for it almost that it aches somethingin him.

The blonde doesn’t see the sadness that creeps into his best friend’s eyes because he goes back to his notes.

Bucky craves to have someone who is willing to say they’re lucky to have Bucky in their lives, despite all the imperfections he sees in the mirror. And he desires to have someone to spoil rotten with all the cheesy bits he tries not to show – he blames it all on those classic romantic novels they’re mandated to read for Fiction Class.

In short, he wants love and be loved back in return.

And yes, he has his friends. But they all have their priorities. Bucky won’t be the first person they call if they nailed a class debate, he won’t be the first one they turn to when they needed a shoulder to cry on.

He simply wants someone he can call special to him.

**

‘I have this feeling that this is the same person who gave me the coffee in the engineering lab,’ Tony formulates, taking something from his backpack.

‘Oh, the Flirty Post-It Man,’ Pepper adds enthusiastically.

‘The what now?’ Rhodey looks from Tony to Pepper with confusion.

‘And now he’s left his scarf for me,’ Tony continues, ignoring Rhodey’s statement. ‘And this scarf,’ he holds the material before them, ‘ has intitals of J-B-B.’ He looks at his two best friends with frustrated confusion because he doesn’t like not knowing. ‘What even does these letters mean?’

‘Maybe a name?’ Pepper supplies excitedly that her high pony tail swishes for a bit. She doesn’t look worried about this ordeal at all, calls it romantic.

Rhodey on the the other hand is showing his military genes by treating this as an initial threat to Tony’s life.

Tony’s Team Pepper on the theory section. But he’s not gonna tell that to Rhodey because he’s absolutely clueless why this is all happening to him when he could be doing some codes now regarding that Artificial Intelligence he’d been interested about.

‘Hey guys,’ Natasha inserts as he pass by them. They’re French class is done and she’s on her way to the cafeteria. ‘What’s up?’ She eyes the trio curiously sensing their serious meeting about something.

The trio looked around each other in that weird silent conversation you have with your close friends when trying to decide who’s going to announce the elephant in the room.

‘Well, Tony has a stalker.’ The three must have agreed that it is Rhodey who must break the news.

‘Or a secret admirer,’ Pepper adds, because she has good intuition about these sort of things.

Natasha raises an eyebrow at them. ‘And where does Bucky’s scarf falls into this scenario?’ She eyes the black material Tony’s holding, the J.B.B. initials are clear as a day as Tony stretches it with his hands like a map.

‘Bucky?’ All three inquires in unison.

‘Who is Bucky?’ Rhodey probes, hands on his hips like the mother hen that he can become whenever Tony’s involve.

‘Steve’s best friend,’ Natasha answers.

‘Your Steve?’ Tony asks stupidly, as if there’s another Steve in the red hair’s life. And the eye roll that Natasha gives him was enough confirmation that his question was indeed inane.

‘Is he hot?’ Of course, Peper had to, because as much as she is a mother hen when it comes to Tony, she also wishes to see the genius happy. And maybe with the proper life balance of a university student not all work and projects, and no teenage adventures.

The other red hair girl doesn’t answer, just looks at the trio as if she’s trying to fix a puzzle. She likes knowing how the pieces fit together, or how people work and what’s happening with those around her. She’s not taking Psychology for nothing.

‘I’m meeting them now,’ Natasha informs. ‘You can judge for yourself.’ She had put every piece in place like always. She’s just a bit surprise that it’s been Tony that Bucky had been pining for weeks now.

Steve’s description of Bucky’s crush was that the man’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘The Cute Sleeping Engineer’ as he’d heard from Bucky. But she didn’t think it’s Tony because the Engineering Major doesn’t do sleep.

If there’s one thing Natasha learned of Tony after being friends with him is that: Tony rarely sleeps. The genius’ ging to be awake for many hours straight that Rhodey or Pepper – or sometimes her – would have to drag him away from his tinkering.

She just couldn’t imagine Tony in any of those scenarios that Bucky had described.

And isn’t life beautiful? You never stop learning about people and the world around you.

**

It’s a Wednesday, Bucky remembers it because he loves Wednesdays. He has few classes and he can go back to his dorm to sleep for the rest of the afternoon.

Ah, yes. He can get a full night sleep today. Because today is Wednesday and his first class for tomorrow starts at one in the afternoon. He can literally sleep till noon.

Sleep. Tony comes into his head. He hopes that Tony’s getting enough sleep as well.

And as if summoned, Tony’s entering the cafeteria.

Bucky’s eyes go wide and he physically backed away from where he’s leaning on the table. He startles Steve with how his knees hit the table from under when he slightly jolts himself from his chair.

Not only is Tony in the same place Bucky is, but Tony’s brown, doe eyes are trained to him. It sets his heart into beating rapidly.

His stomach churn, he can feel it as Tony locks eyes with him. And Bucky knows that his Sleeping Beauty knows, the scarf in the other boy’s hand is indication enough.

‘Hey.’ Natasha places a kiss on Steve’s cheeks and the blonde grins back at his girlfriend. She slips on the vacant chair next to Steve as if her entourage – Tony, another red head, and Tony’s _sugar pie_ – doesn’t exist.

And if Bucky is displease to see the good looking black guy, it has nothing to do with his theory that the said bloke might be Tony’s boyfriend. Absolutely nothing.

He doesn’t spend another second on the other guy despite the glare the bloke’s throwing in Bucky’s direction. His theory about the relationshp might be correct after all, and somehow it breaks Bucky’s heart a little.

Bucky’s eyes darts themselves back to Tony’s and the way the brown in them is almost hazel, and how gorgeous the boy is. But Tony has that awestruck and guarded expression on his face.

‘You’re Bucky,’ Tony mutters, almost breathless.

The dark haired boy isn’t sure if that’s a good sign. He honestly wants the earth to swallow him whole right now because he can feel a confrontation coming in.

‘Yes,’ he replies, and notes every change of emotion on Tony’s face. In all honesty, Bucky doesn’t like confrontation, but at the face of it he simply tackles it head on. Remove the Band-Aid in one go, one of his life’s mantras.

‘And this is yours,’ Tony states, presenting Bucky the black scarf.

The black guy looks like he’s about to step over and say something, but their pretty red hair companion stops him with a hand on his chest. And Bucky wants to thank her for that.

The nerves are there. He can feel every muscle in his body tense as he’s finally getting to the moment of truth.

He swallows and licks his lips. His throat feels dry. But he manages a _yes_.

Bucky’s not really adept in reading people in general. And he’s clearly not good at reading Tony as well. But he can see it, the calculation in Tony’s head, mirroring on his face.

‘Okay.’ The engineer clears his throat. He’s still analysing the situation at hand.

And Bucky’s done with all these cliffhangers. He can feel Steve’s eyes on him, same as Nat. And if you decipher both of their stares, it’ll spell: _fucking tell him already._

‘Look, I don’t mean for us to get on the wrong start,’ Bucky finally starts, putting a hand at the back of his neck and staring everywhere except Tony. ‘But there’s clearly no logical reason behind everything so far except that…’ he meets Tony’s eyes this time, ‘…I like you.’

Tony looks – well, he looks shock. Utterly gobsmack.

Bucky completely holds his breath and does a silent breathing exercise in his head while he lets the truth settle.

It takes about _six_ whole seconds before –

‘Is this some prank?’ Tony demands, anger slowly slipping in his voice. ‘Did Hammer pay you to spew _this_ shit?’

It all feels like a rejection.

‘Hey,’ Steve inserts defensively, same time as Natasha says, ‘Tony.’

Hurt. That’s how Buky feels at Tony’s words. Maybe Bucky can’t really make people love him, as well as he can’t even make them believe in love.

He’s been know for being an arsehole sometimes, it’s some sort of defence mechanism for him. Right now, he wants to hurt as much as he’s hurting. If he’s honest, he’s disappointed that Tony would react like this, nevermind that Bucky might have also been at fault. But he doesn’t care about that right now – defence mechanism.

It aches how Tony’s actually not as sweet as he’d been asleep. And Bucky’s really more angry at himself for romaticising the engineer too much despite not knowing the other student. His dad was right: less expectation, less disappointment.

He’s done facing Tony’s accusing eyes. Bucky wants none of it. He’s never been comfortable with judgmental eyes, not when he’s still insecure about his prosthetic arm, and worries about all other shit about him.

Just when Bucky’s about to lash out at Tony how the boy’s such a judgmental jerk – he sees it: the hurt behind Tony’s eyes. The other boy masks his pain with anger, but Bucky reads it clear as a day. He knows that look, have seen it in the mirror a lot of times behind his own eyes.

Because sometimes it’s easier to be angry than accept the pain or acknowledge your unwanted feelings. Natasha did say before that Bucky likes to appear all piss off and angry to avoid people from unearthing what a softie he is. Huh, and yet he asks why he’s unlovable and single.

He needs to work out on that, he notes. But right now, he needs to work this out with Tony.

‘It’s not a prank,’ he clarifies sincerely. Tony’s jaw is still clench tight, and the black guy still looks like he’s going to jump at Bucky and punch him. ‘I don’t even know who Hammer is.’

Tony’s unconvince. He’s studying Bucky like how Natasha analyses situations or people. Maybe the shorter boy’s trying to figure out if Bucky’s lying or not.

‘I was suppose to introduce myself to you after the library incident. But…’ He clears his throat. ‘I’m not very confident with myself.’ Bucky unconsciously reaches out for his prosthetic arm with his flesh hand. His bad habit when he gets insecure, like he wants to hide his flawed arm.

Tony shifts his eyes from Bucky’s face to the arm. And something in those brown eyes change.

‘I didn’t mean to be creepy,’ he continues. ‘It’s just that… whenever I see you, you’re always in slumber. And you kinda need your sleep based on my observation.’ He swipes one flesh finger under his eyes to prove his point.

Bucky can see the small nod of agreement he gets from each of their friends.

There’s a moment of silence. Everybody stares at Tony and waits for his reaction on Bucky’s confession.

‘You do know that if I somehow find out that this is all some ruse I’ll come for you, right?’ Tony threatens mildly. He doesn’t seem angry anymore, but his guard is still up. And Bucky can live with that. ‘I don’t want you to think you can trick me like that for your own benefit because I’m a Stark.’

‘Stark?’ Bucky asks confusedly. ‘Like the bird? Or is this some _Game of Thrones_ reference?’

‘Ha, ha, ha. Funny,’ Tony says sarcastically. ‘I like your taste in TV shows though. I’ll give you that.’

And there’s a small smile that Tony forces to hide. Bucky calls it a win, shrugging Tony’s threat and weird reference, and instead focusing on the positive side that it’s going to start to be better from here.

‘Seriously, Tony,’ Natasha inserts, ‘he’s Steve’s best friend.’ Because that’s the whole guarantee right there: Steve and his famous virtue. ‘You can trust Bucky.’

It’s Natasha, her words are true if not law.

They all try to start over. Bucky’s happy with that, especially upon learning that Rhodey’s not Tony’s boyfriend.

It takes about three more hours before they all – except for the two smart red heads – realise that Bucky wasn’t humouring them when he was confuse at the Stark reference, because he absolutely has no idea that Tony is _the_ Tony Stark.

But it didn’t surprise them all when it only took two days for Tony to fall in love with Bucky. He was already half in love with the dark haired man after the quad incident. And it adds to their favour that they complement each other so well.

Bucky still refuses to believe in love at first sight bullshit he learned from Disney’s fairytales, despite him calling Tony Sleeping  Beauty once in a while to annoy his engineer boyfriend. Because it took time for them to finally make it official – three dates, if you want the exact statistic, in a span of two weeks.

Tony continues to sleep in the oddest places – and Rhodey continues to disapprove of it – because he thinks it’s romantic that 85 percent of the time Bucky finds him. It’s weird. But Tony debates otherwise because often his boyfriend wakes him up with a kiss and prompts them back to Bucky’s dorm room for a more comfortable sleep.

It’s not happily-ever-after yet for there are still days they have to work themselves out to make their relatonship work.

 _But it’s enough_ , Bucky thinks as he drifts into sleep with an arm wrap around Tony’s waist.

 

 _Fin._

**Author's Note:**

> Different fandom but same rule: you know the drill. Thanks! :) xoxo


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